“Let us walk softly on the Earth with all living beings great and small, remembering as we go, that one God kind and wise created all.”

This ancient Native American saying guides the environmental, ethical and operational decisions at GoMacro, a Wisconsin-based, family-owned nutrition bar company and a new Carbonfree® Business Partner. GoMacro completed a comprehensive analysis of their annual operating emissions, including all product shipment emissions, then neutralized those emissions by supporting Carbonfund.org’s reforestation projects around the world. Their support will produce the same environmental benefit as planting 14,700 tree seedlings and growing them for ten years.

GoMacro’s mission is to produce wholesome, healthy snack bars, following their belief that food and food quality impact health, happiness, and well-being for all. GoMacro MacroBars are USDA certified organic, Non-GMO project verified, vegan certified, gluten-free certified, kosher certified, soy-free and uniquely macrobiotic. By adhering to these high standards for product ingredients, GoMacro helps to maintain the biodiversity of ecosystems throughout the world, while simultaneously providing nutritious food.

GoMacro supports fair trade by using organic ingredients produced with sustainable farming techniques and tray packaging made from 100% post consumer waste. They reinvest in their communities, their workforce and the world through donations, education, environmental responsibility and a devotion to the well-being of all living things. GoMacro believes in feeling good about what we eat; how it tastes, how it’s made, and how it sustains the environment. Their environmental commitment to neutralizing their operational emissions through the Carbonfree® Business Partnership program further demonstrates their mission to walk softly on the Earth we share.

Care To Click is an online community where people's small actions can make a big impact. The organization’s goal is to make the world a better place for everyone, which includes protecting our environment for future generations.

By joining the Carbonfree® Small Business Partnership program with Carbonfund.org, Care To Click has neutralized almost 80,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. This reduces the company’s operational emissions and makes it a more sustainable organization.

“We owe it to future generations to leave the world a better place than we found it,” explains Tracilyn Scala, Founder of Care To Click. “Carbonfund.org has made doing so their mission and deserve everyone's support.”

Care To Click helps raise money for environmentally conscious groups, including Carbonfund.org. By taking a few simple actions on the Care To Click website, like donating free clicks and tweets, printing useful coupons and shopping online using Care To Click's “Care To Search” browser extension, users prompt donations to charitable organizations.

Care To Click encourages everyone to take action, and recognizes that these actions have an impact. As a Carbonfree® Small Business Partner, Care To Click has taken the lead in neutralizing its own operational emissions.

It’s still early in this new year, and with Earth Day approaching next month, it’s a great time to look for ways to improve, expand and enrich your commitments to protecting and preserving our environment.

During 2013, Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery of St. Helena, CA augmented their organic agricultural practices and environmental sustainability initiatives by offsetting business flight emissions through Carbonfud.org. This year, Spottswoode took the additional step to allocate a larger portion of its 1% for the Planet pledge to join the Carbonfree® Business Partnership program, thus neutralizing all of their annual operational emissions by supporting Carbonfund.org’s carbon reduction and clean air projects around the world.

“Climate Change is the defining issue of our time, and we feel strongly that we must be a part of the solution to this global crisis,” explains Beth Novak Milliken, President and CEO of Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery. “We take our commitment to the environment seriously, and through our actions, we hope to inspire others to care for and respect our natural resources as well.”

Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery is a family-owned vineyard and winery renowned for producing classic and refined wines that honor their vineyard origins. The balance, grace, and integrity reflected in their wines also drive a commitment to organic farming and stewardship of the winery’s gardens, historic building, and local watershed.

Spottswoode Estate Vineyard and Winery has farmed organically since 1985 and became a California Certified Organic Farmer in 1992. In addition, Spottswoode is certified Napa Green by the Napa Valley Vintners, uses solar power in their vineyard and winery, maintains insectaries and bird boxes in the vineyard, runs tractors on biodiesel and works to conserve water. The winery spearheaded the restoration of Spring Creek, which defines the southern boundary of their vineyard and is shared with many residential neighbors. The expansion of the winery’s environmental responsibility to mitigate all operational carbon emissions through the Carbonfree® Business Partnership demonstrates an ongoing dedication to the health of land and air upon which Spottswoode Estate Vineyard and Winery depends.

A simple suggestion five years ago to a client, recommending that they publish the company’s carbon footprint in their annual report, led Smart Media to adopt a broad and continuous sustainability commitment in its own operations and in the production of its award-winning annual reports.

One of the very few companies in the world to focus exclusively on annual reports, Smart Media The Annual Report Company (‘Smart Media’) helps organizations produce annual reports which go beyond statutory disclosure and compliance to become effective instruments of corporate communications.

In 2008, Smart Media encouraged a client to voluntarily publish their carbon footprint in the annual report. Since then, the numbers of client companies including this operational emissions information in annual reports have grown. Some clients depend upon Smart Media’s consultancy assistance which includes training, development of data entry forms and computation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in accordance with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard.

By way of setting an example, Smart Media commenced producing carbon neutral annual reports in 2009, by thoroughly analyzing the carbon emissions associated with the full annual report production process. Then, Smart Media chose to partner with Carbonfund.org to neutralize these emissions by supporting global reforestation projects. In 2012, Smart Media became completely carbon neutral under Scopes 1 and 2 as well as selected sources under Scope 3 of the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard by mitigating its own operational emissions with Carbonfund.org.

“Our strategy was to reduce our GHG emissions as much as possible and to offset the rest thereafter. Our philosophy, when in comes to partnerships is ‘the best or not at all’. Having looked around we chose Carbonfund.org, as it is an independent foundation having a great track record and credibility. They have the experience and expertise to help clients in almost any sector in any part of the world. Thus, their capabilities matched our requirements as well as those of our varied group of clients" says Dr. Vijith Kannangara, Chairman, Smart Media The Annual Report Company.

Doing business in Bahrain, Hong Kong, Maldives, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and UAE, and with a track record spanning over 15 years and 1,500 reports, Smart Media is the acknowledged leader for annual reports in the Asia-Pacific region. This is borne out by the numerous international awards and accolades earned year after year, including the Platinum Achievement Award at the International ARC Awards, USA - popularly dubbed as the Oscars of Annual Reports - in 2010 and 2012 – and in 2013, Smart Media received an unprecedented 94 awards, including 25 Gold awards and 7 Grand awards.

Smart Media clients get the benefit of working with a certified carbon neutral company and neutralizing the GHG emissions resulting from annual report production activities outsourced by Smart Media in the production of their annual reports, including the usage of paper and printing, offset through verified sources. As a result of Smart Media’s leadership, some clients have begun setting targets to reduce their GHG emissions intensity through the adoption of energy efficiency and conservation measures as well as fuel switching, with the added benefits of operational cost savings. For Smart Media, this may well be its single largest contribution – though indirect – towards environmental stewardship. Carbonfund.org is proud to partner with Smart Media in these efforts.

Many of our business partners focus on following sustainable business practices, specializing in organic products, minimizing waste in their packaging and supporting Fair Trade practices. These programs are important to their business ethics and compatible with the products they’re delivering.

Exemplifying this approach is the husband-and-wife team that created Arbor Teas, a CarbonFree® Business Partner for six consecutive years.

Arbor Teas offers USDA-certified organic loose leaf teas from around the globe through its on-line store, with one of the web’s largest selections of organic tea, three-quarters of which is Fair Trade Certified. Arbor Teas maintains a daily mission to find the world's most fantastic organic teas and deliver them to customers as sustainably as possibly. This includes maintaining their CarbonFree® Business Partnership, neutralizing all operational and shipping emissions by supporting Carbonfund.org’s clean air and carbon reduction projects around the world.

Because Arbor Teas deals in products that come from all corners of the globe, it was imperative to offset the carbon footprint of all shipments that arrive at or depart from their facility as well as the carbon emissions from their internal operations.

“It makes no sense at all to sell an organic product if the method of delivering it to our customers is environmentally harmful,” emphasizes Jeremy Lopatin, co-founder of Arbor Teas with wife Aubrey. “Although we do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint, we’re happy to partner with Carbonfund.org to offset what we can’t avoid… yet!”

Arbor Teas became the first tea company to deliver its full line of organic loose teas in 100% backyard compostable packaging, continuing to lead the tea industry through its staunch commitment to sustainable business practices. Tea drinkers are now able to compost their tea leaves and tea packaging together in their home composting system. Organic teas delivered CarbonFree® with compostable packaging – that’s commitment to environmental sustainability in action and leadership by example.